As the NBA’s trade deadline draws nearer, the speculation intensifies, the game of trying to find a trading partner getting harder with each passing minute.

By 3 p.m. Thursday, all the rumours percolating, all the conjecture, real or imagined, will officially be put to rest.

No player wants to read his name in some trade gossip, hear his name talked about when a shootaround is completed and the queries begin.

The ones who are able to block out the noise emerge as the savvy hoopsters, knowing full well this exercise in incessant chatter is completely out of their control.

“I don’t think anybody likes it,” said New Jersey Nets interim head coach and former Raptors assistant P.J. Carlesimo. “If the question is: ‘Do you want to read about yourself being traded or not?’ Everybody is going to say no.